I just finished up at one of our annual industry trade shows for Dee-O-Gee. This one is called SuperZoo, it's in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center and it's one of the biggest industry shows for the year. This year, the show was moved to the 3rd week of July. Previously, it was in September and was at an ideal time for holiday season ordering. We have some interesting circumstances around the show this year …

Normally, Holly and I use the entire 3 days of SuperZoo to meet up with vendors, make orders on existing products, and research new products to offer our customers. We also take in some training courses and do some long term vision/planning for Dee-O-Gee. This year, we have a 4 week old baby and we are also right in the middle of our annual week with Holly's family in Coeur d'Alene, ID. So, circumstances were not "as usual" for our trade show experience this year.

We considered skipping SuperZoo, but had a fear that we would miss out on new products and deals that are only offered at the show. So, a few months ago we made the decision that only I would attend, and I'd do it in a whirlwind fashion. I left Spokane airport at 7:45am on Tuesday morning, had Tuesday afternoon at the show. Ate some dinner with one of our manufacturers. Made some orders this morning (Wednesday) and now I'm sitting at the airport gate waiting for my return flight back to Spokane so I can be back to the lake house for dinner with the family. Phew! I'm really glad we made the decision for me to attend the show, as I furthered some connections with our key vendors (our order sizes are continuing to increase, so they are starting to "like" me more). I found a few new products and learned about a few other ones that we have "had our eye on". It was also really beneficial to tell some vendors in person about our upcoming Dee-O-Gee expansion. Now, it was really hard to miss out on all of the boat/lake fun with the family for 2 days, but I did get a little of that in on Sunday and Monday. So, we did some "balancing" of family and business this week … what do you think, was it worth the sacrifice? Do you have any specific strategies for trade shows in your industry?

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Josh Allen is a business owner (with his wife, Holly), a father, and a follower of Jesus ... this blog provides some "nuts & bolts" of how he is attempting to fit all of that together in a meaningful, impactful way.